[LINK] Skype beta3, free worldwide conference calls

Ivan Trundle ivan at itrundle.com
Fri Nov 10 12:18:55 AEDT 2006


On 10/11/2006, at 10:12 AM, Alan L Tyree wrote:

> On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:46:47 +1100
> Howard Lowndes <lannet at lannet.com.au> wrote:
>> <snip>
>> Perhaps Windows users are far more easily parted from their money
>> then Linux types.  After all, they normally get stung for everything.
>
> Don't use Skype. Why get locked in to a proprietary format that can't
> talk to anyone else?

Because I can use it to talk to all of the people that I want to talk  
to (contrary to your assertion).

I've used others (none of which appear to work very well in the Mac  
OS environment, though I did like Gizmo - was an early adopter), but  
it's hard to convince everyone else to use the same product. Skype  
simply has more traction, and traction wins. Personally, iChat beats  
them all, hands-down - but what's the point when it only talks to a  
select few?

> Use a SIP based service that is based on open
> standards: Gizmo, Sjphone, Xten all work with Free World Dialup and

Xten are now known as CounterPath, BTW.

> other SIP providers. Better yet, use a SIP service that is open  
> source:
> Ekiga which allows multiple registrations.
>
> I tried Skype and found that it was frequently using bandwidth for  
> some
> purpose that I knew nothing about. Maybe Windows users are happy for
> that to happen, but I don't see why anyone should put up with it.

Different issue. Not on a Mac, AFAIK. However, with video calls, all  
but the latest version demanded 100% of the CPU to deliver good  
vision. This is now changed.

For those with an interest in these things, http://www.voip-info.org/  
is a good place to discover more about VoIP. Messy site - but full of  
gems.

iT



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